Star Gate

Chapter 534: Light Sword (I)

The young man had consumed a large sum of energy over the past three days—more than thirty thousand cubes. He absorbed half of the sum and the dog consumed at least five thousand of the other half. The rest went to Hao Lianchuan and the supernaturals. It was only because Panther wasn’t much interested in the five elements lately that the supernaturals were able to absorb so much.

He’d consumed approximately one hundred pieces of mysterious power stones. That no longer meant much to Li Hao. After killing two Novas, the stones in their rings alone were more than eight hundred pieces. Pirates were rich, alright!

His cache of stones was increasing instead of decreasing. Added to that seizures from other sources, that meant he had almost three thousand stones in hand. That was more than when he left the ruins.

“Don’t stop, Li Hao!” Hao Lianchuan called out urgently with desire. “My supernatural lock hasn’t appeared yet and my strength hasn’t increased...”

“Is that so?” Li Hao flicked him a glance.

“Yeah! Almost there...”

“Really?”

“Of course!” Hao Lianchuan almost thumped his chest in promise.

“Late Solar is good enough,” Li Hao said wearily. “Would you have ascended if your lock hadn’t appeared? Director Hao, try a better lie next time.”

Hao Lianchuan blinked and stared wordlessly at the young man. A tragic expression crept over his face. The kid’s eyes are too keen! I thought no one noticed!

Li Hao couldn’t be bothered with him. He looked at the others, finding himself to almost envy supernaturals. Wang Ming was peak Sunflare and might ascend at any time. Hu Hao and Yun Yao were both Sunflares. While they were initial Sunflare, this rate of improvement was astonishing!

As for Li Meng... she was unfortunately still dawdling in Darkmoon. At least she was a Plenilune now and would be a Sunflare if she took another step forward.

The latter three hadn’t absorbed too much energy as Hao Lianchuan had consumed half of the ten thousand cubes, Wang Ming half of the remainder, leaving the other half to the trio. And yet, they still easily set foot into Sunflare.

In comparison, it was so hard for martial masters to set foot into Dominator from Sunderer. Li Hao had sent the Demon Hunters quite a sum of elemental energy, but if juxtaposed with the supernaturals, he should’ve seen half of his martial masters reach Dominator. And yet, not a single one was yet!

The aura was an obstacle in everyone’s path.

Li Hao looked at Li Meng, thinking that the girl would be depressed. It turned out he was thinking too much. She wasn’t down at all and bounced around happily. It didn’t seem like an act as she really was very happy.

While everyone had improved, she’d improved the least. However, Li Meng was very excited. “I’m almost a Sunflare, I’m so impressive!”

“......” The group stared strangely at her. We... are all Sunflare? What are you so impressive about?

Li Meng looked at the group proudly and wanted to say something, but suddenly shut her mouth and thought better of it. That piqued Li Hao’s curiosity. Had the girl gained something special? Was there a change to her eye or something else?

He didn’t consider asking as Li Meng couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. She had a bigger mouth than Wang Ming. It hadn’t been apparent before because she didn’t know much. If she did, she would run her mouth more than Wang Ming. It wouldn’t be more than a few days for everyone to know what she wasn’t speaking about today.

Li Hao walked out without further word. In his current state, increases to strength focused on the physical body. There weren’t any big differences to his auras. His body and five organs were much more formidable than before. The stronger his vitality was, the harder it was for enemies to kill him.

However, his offensive ability didn’t increase in proportion to the improvements of his body. He might be a little stronger than when he faced Sea Shark—at the very least, he wouldn’t continue to be caught on the back foot and turn the tables only at the very last. He could be able to match the pirate now.

......

Li Hao walked out of the training quarters. Some martial masters were already awake and active, demonstrating the effects of what they’d absorbed over the past three days. While the young man couldn’t see anything definitive as he looked over the Demon Hunters, he could sense that some auras were starting to flourish.

This meant that some had progressed to half step Dominator over the past three days.

Liu Long swiftly walked over upon seeing Li Hao and the supernaturals approach. He’d focused his efforts on expounding on theory to the rest over the past couple of days. The man hadn’t cultivated much, instead overseeing the distribution of the dao comprehension weapons.

Li Hao always absolved himself of these kinds of responsibilities. Since he wouldn’t carry out his duties, Liu Long had to do it. He’d done it for the Demon Hunters before. While there were more people now, he could still rise to the occasion since he’d been captain of the law enforcement team for many years.

“Leader!” Liu Long seemed to heave a sigh of relief. “There are still some sitting with the dao comprehension weapons. Almost everyone had a chance to, but a lot of the weapons have shattered. Only the sword is left...”

Li Hao looked in a certain direction, finding that someone seemed to have grasped the aura. “Who’s in there now?”

“Hong Hao!”

“Him?” Li Hao raised a surprised eyebrow. “He was on the cusp of success himself, what’s he studying a dao comprehension weapon for?”

Hong Hao had almost grasped the aura and was Hong Yitang’s third disciple. Based on what Li Hao knew, the young man wouldn’t take someone else’s opportunity and would give up his instead.

“The Sword Sect disciples refused to accept their chances,” Liu Long explained. “They said that Hong Hao and the others accomplished more than them and should go first. Even though he was about to comprehend it himself, they said that it was still useful to know more. Hong Hao had no other choice but to agree...”

Li Hao didn’t say anything. The Sword Sect disciples were a united group. They probably didn’t want to take his chance from him before he reached half step Dominator.

“What’s the situation now?”

“Liu Yan, Hong Qing, Li Heng, Hong Chou, and a few others have comprehended the aura on their own...”

Hong Chou was the one whose family had been killed by pirates, so Li Hao wasn’t surprised by his name on the list. When he gave the order to hang up the pirates, a flicker of aura had answered from the guy. It might’ve been due to happiness, or it might’ve been because killing the pirates cleared his mind. He’d come from behind and now surpassed many.

“There are sixteen people who’ve grasped the aura.”

“That many?” Li Hao was taken aback. Ten would’ve been decent in his estimation.

“Mmhmm, there were quite a few.” Liu Long grinned. “The vacation day that you ordered might have straightened out their thoughts. Who knew that it’d be a good thing?”

There hadn’t been a single half step Dominator in the troop of forty-nine, now there were suddenly sixteen. If they counted the mediating Hong Hao, that would make seventeen. It was more than one third of the Demon Hunters! This was a high ratio.

Li Hao quickly processed his surprise. Whether it was the Sword Sect or Inspectorate, they’d sent martial masters with good foundations. They all had strong potential for martial dao—it would’ve been difficult for them to continue down their path in this impoverished place otherwise. After the rise of the supernatural, those unsuited for the martial path quickly crossed over.

“That’s good!” Li Hao checked the skies—they were dark. It was the night of the 8th and it would be the 9th soon. Based on their speed, Hou Xiaochen and the others should almost be at Skystar City since they’d left on the 4th.

The young man was in no hurry since Hong Hao was still busy, he chatted with those standing around. Hong Qing and Hong Hao had returned in the afternoon two days ago and hadn’t had a chance to make their report. Hong Qing walked over to them.

“Leader, my dad says to not send people to him in the future...”

“Why not?” Was Hong Yitang so small-minded? It was just a few people and they were in such a pitiable state! Why can’t you save them?

“My dad says that this is just setting a precedent and will form the beginning of a habit. He says that you don’t know how hard it is to deal with the aftermath of a situation. If you send him one hundred people today, you might send an entire city next time. So next time... if you still want to do this... he’ll take them after you have custody of them for a month.”

Li Hao scratched his head awkwardly. I got it! Old Hong thinks I have no idea how hard it is to take care of people rescued from these situations. He wants me to have a taste, but I’m not an idiot! I know! Don’t think I don’t know, it’s because I know that I don’t want to do it. Hello, I’m seriously not an idiot.

“Ahem!” Li Hao changed the topic. “Let’s talk about the ruins!”

The crowd perked up.

“The ruins are within Silver Moon borders and not too far from White Moon City. Previous ranking officer Golden Spear explored them a few times and returned halfway...” Li Hao recounted in a somewhat solemn tone. “There are great dangers within. The ranking officer may have been fine, but that doesn’t mean we will be.

“The ruins don’t look too big from the outside. The senior guesses that it might’ve been the personal city of a clan in the ancient civilization, or one from a small sect. There may be other possibilities as well, but that is the most of it.

“The difficulty lies in the fact that ambushes happen on the street leading to the main door. Since I’ve been to Battle Heaven, my guess is that it may be a tree spirit! It’s tough to say if it’s one from the ancient civilization or one born later.”

“From those times?” Hong Qing asked curiously. “It should be dead after so many years.”

“It might, it could also be a shoot from the old tree. I haven’t been, so I’m not sure. But from some clues left by Senior Golden Spear, I think this might be the case!

“If that is...” Li Hao\'s eyes darted around. “Then we might have significant treasure to loot. A place like that may not have as many valuables as Battle Heaven, but with a tree spirit present, we might be able to obtain the legendary Water of Life...”

He only had one drop of that that he’d kept in reserve. Hou Xiaochen had wanted to trade for it, but Li Hao rejected him. It was an item that would create an enormous debt of gratitude as it was more effective than sword energy. It could regrow severed limbs!

Sword energy could not accomplish that—Li Hao vaguely knew what its core essence was now. It was a type of pure mental strength! Whether it was mysterious power, mysterious power stones, or origin weapon souls, they were devoured by the sword, purified, refined, and giving rise to sword energy.

Therefore, sword energy was a strength for cultivation. Water of Life, on the other hand, was a truly unique energy.